Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab - 5/10
All summer I had been waiting to read this but held off to save it for my holiday. Well, I finally had that holiday and, unfortunately, ended up really disappointed.
Maybe my expectations for this were too high and I'm being unfair, but this just didn't do anything for me.
The structure was complicated and detracted from the story and the ending felt incredibly rushed and pointless. In the rush, the character who we come to know and follow through most of the story is suddenly cast aside as soon as moral conflict arises.
A shame.
When life gives you lemons (a review I thought was lazy and damaging in the way it framed women’s writing), make lemonade (a 2,500-word essay on the habits of literary criticism).
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/literary-criticism-under-review
I avoid goodreads and other websites that rate books on five stars or similar.
Books are so complex, and can resonate so differently depending on what you seek your what you’ve been through.
Rating a book from 1 to 5 stars completely fails to capture any of that.
But even knowing that, a book rated 3/5 looks less appealing to me. So I avoid those websites as much as possible.
Anke
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"Most European scientific explorers drew on indigenous information about plant and animal life, medicine, geology, geography and navigation, while taking full credit for their ‘original’ discoveries and proclaiming the supremacy of European thought over other knowledge systems. In this way, the European intellectual tradition became the measure of all knowledge, while other ways of knowing became downgraded as less valid, objective or true." -- from 'The Trembling Hand' by Mathelinda Nabugodi
"Most European scientific explorers drew on indigenous information about plant and animal life, medicine, geology, geography and navigation, while taking full credit for their ‘original’ discoveries and proclaiming the supremacy of European thought over other knowledge systems. In this way, the European intellectual tradition became the measure of all knowledge, while other ways of knowing became downgraded as less valid, objective or true." -- from 'The Trembling Hand' by Mathelinda Nabugodi
Alex, the Hearth Fire
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BOOK SALE! My fabulous fantasy story collection is still on sale for a few more days because I forgot to set an end date on the sale until an hour ago.
99 cents for 20 stories of whimsy, gargoyles, heroic aunties, brave doggos, & evil bureaucrats who always lose.
https://books2read.com/RelicsFromATravelingShow
#fantasy #wizards#MagicAcademia #magic #MagicSchool #superpowers #monsters #fae #witches #sorcery #elves #heroes#FoundFamily#GoodBooks #reading #writing#AmReading#FediBookfair#BookPromo @bookstodon@gup.pe
BOOK SALE! My fabulous fantasy story collection is still on sale for a few more days because I forgot to set an end date on the sale until an hour ago.
99 cents for 20 stories of whimsy, gargoyles, heroic aunties, brave doggos, & evil bureaucrats who always lose.
https://books2read.com/RelicsFromATravelingShow
#fantasy #wizards#MagicAcademia #magic #MagicSchool #superpowers #monsters #fae #witches #sorcery #elves #heroes#FoundFamily#GoodBooks #reading #writing#AmReading#FediBookfair#BookPromo @bookstodon@gup.pe
jbz
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‘Deeply concerning’: reading for fun in the US has fallen by 40%, new study says
"Over the last 20 years, the number of Americans who read daily for pleasure has seen a considerable decline"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/20/reading-for-pleasure-study
‘Deeply concerning’: reading for fun in the US has fallen by 40%, new study says
"Over the last 20 years, the number of Americans who read daily for pleasure has seen a considerable decline"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/20/reading-for-pleasure-study
Finished reading The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock.
I will not read anything else by this author as long as I live.
Joseph Nuthalapati :fbx:
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https://grist.org/language/nature-word-language-disappear-culture/ A study found that the use of nature-related words like “blossoms,” “rivers,” “ meadow” and “moss” declined more than 60 percent between 1800 and 2019. It becomes more difficult conserve something people don’t identify as part of their life experience. #science #environment #nature #reading #ecology #education #conservation
https://grist.org/language/nature-word-language-disappear-culture/ A study found that the use of nature-related words like “blossoms,” “rivers,” “ meadow” and “moss” declined more than 60 percent between 1800 and 2019. It becomes more difficult conserve something people don’t identify as part of their life experience. #science #environment #nature #reading #ecology #education #conservation
Cory Doctorow
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This month's fiction: very gay, very outer space.
Highlights included Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, The Alliance series by Elaine U. Cho, and Charlie Jane Anders' Lessons in Magic and Disaster.
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@molly0xfff/video/7545179002202361101
This month's fiction: very gay, very outer space.
Highlights included Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, The Alliance series by Elaine U. Cho, and Charlie Jane Anders' Lessons in Magic and Disaster.
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@molly0xfff/video/7545179002202361101
August 2025 reads: Dark Angel, John Sandford (2 stars)
Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells (3 stars)
Righteous Prey, John Sandford (3.5 stars)
System Collapse, Martha Wells (3 stars)
Automatic Noodle, Annalee Newitz (3 stars)
Judgment Prey, John Sandford (3.5 stars)
How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu (DNF)
The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman (3.5 stars)
Ocean's Godori, Elaine U. Cho (4 stars)
Teo's Durumi, Elaine U. Cho (4 stars)
Toxic Prey, John Sandford (3 stars)
Lethal Prey, John Sandford (4 stars)
Lessons in Magic and Disaster, Charlie Jane Anders (4 stars)
Of Monsters and Mainframes, Barbara Truelove (4 stars)
The Black Echo, Michael Connelly (3 stars)
Space Team, Barry J. Hutchinson (3 stars)
The Black Ice, Michael Connelly (3.5 stars)
Storygraph August 2025 wrap-up page. Books: 16; pages: 5,756; av. rating 3.34. Highest rated reads: Of Monsters and Mainframes (4 stars), Lessons in Magic and Disaster (4 stars), Teo's Durumi (4 stars). Average book length: 352 pages; average time to finish: 4 days. 100% fiction. 56% digital, 44% audio.
This month's fiction: very gay, very outer space.
Highlights included Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove, The Alliance series by Elaine U. Cho, and Charlie Jane Anders' Lessons in Magic and Disaster.
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@molly0xfff/video/7545179002202361101
Jonathan Schofield
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For all my book loving Masto-friends, as we know the answer is always in a book... or is it?
For all my book loving Masto-friends, as we know the answer is always in a book... or is it?